The tradition was set a few years back, when I made my daughter a birthday card with an “Isla word” for every letter of the alphabet. “Are you going to make me a card every year?” she asked, expectantly. Which was like asking an eager chef for second helpings of her latest scratch: How could […]
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Sharing the Joy of the Animals
How a Picture Book Enriches the World of Fisherwood Farm This year, I was honoured to serve as Nicki Fisher’s writing coach (a.k.a. book midwife), on her first picture book, “Take a Look in the Nook”. What particularly struck me about the process was the impact that the book has had on her farm – […]
Smart Writers Use Dummies . . . And Other Lessons my Mentee Taught Me
You never really know something until you teach it to someone else. I always thought this adage meant that you prove your mastery by teaching. Now I know that you groove your mastery by teaching – learning in real time, as you go. I owe the discovery to Nicki Fisher, a local alpaca farmer with […]
Birthday Spell!
Happy Tenth Birthday, Isla! Every year, my daughter requests a homemade card for her birthday. It must include a word game, and it must be at least as good as last year’s. Every year, in the run up to the special day, I ride the emotional roller coaster from — “What’s wrong with Hallmark?” — […]
Phoenix Turns Eight – Let’s Celebrate!
Two decades ago, at the end of my first gruelling semester of law school, my torts professor, Peter Schuck, proved himself to be, as I’d always suspected, a fellow undercover wordsmith. We had spent the term litigating the fictional libel case of Sands v. Mudd, and were waiting for him to render a final verdict. […]